Nautilus International is an independent, influential, global trade union and professional organisation, committed to delivering high quality, cost-effective services to members, and welfare support to necessitous seafarers, their dependants and other maritime professionals.

Nautilus works with members, the maritime community, national governments and international agencies to create change, which improves the lives of maritime professionals. We give a voice to maritime professionals from the very beginning of their training, throughout their employment and into retirement.

In this section, you can find out about the Union's legal and welfare services to members. You can also find information about some of the issues members face and suggestions on what you can do about them.

Fair treatment and criminalisation

Accidents happen in every industry, but when they do, no other industry treats its workers like criminals. When maritime accidents occur, there is often an implication that seafarers and inland waterways personnel somehow deliberately set out to cause a collision, injury or spillage.

Despite the global reliance on the maritime industry, the world’s media, governments and the public often take little notice of it until there is a major incident.

When an incident does occur, especially when it involves death and injury to passengers, or pollution, there is often a great public outcry and a demand for someone to be personally held accountable – and shipmasters and senior officers are usually first in the firing line.

Nautilus is urging members and the wider maritime community to complete its Fair Treatment strategic campaign survey, which aims to find out what, if anything, has changed since our previous research in 2010, and investigate better ways of ensuing that members can stay informed about their rights, wherever they are in the world. Use the links below to find out more about how else you can support our campaign.

Nautilus believes that the maritime industry should operate in the same way as land-based professions. In many other industries, self-regulation exists to hold to account individuals involved in accidents occurring in a professional context.

For example, in the medical profession, if a patient dies due to errors made by medical staff, doctors are not routinely criminally prosecuted for manslaughter and sent to prison; they are judged by a board of colleagues and could have their practice licence revoked if they are found to have acted negligently.

The maritime industry is a global one and incidents can happen anywhere in the world. Seafarers are not supplied with information on local and international laws for the areas they are sailing in, so as to avoid falling foul of these when entering foreign territorial waters and ports.

The Nautilus report on criminalisation of the seafarer contains the results of a survey of members in 2010 and advice and guidance for members on how to deal with criminalisation and investigations into incidents.

Shipping is a global industry, and there is a strong likelihood you’ll be away from your country of residence if you’re involved in an incident. Therefore, Nautilus provides free access to maritime lawyers based all around the world. These lawyers are ready to help our members as soon as they are contacted, at no charge to the individual.

Nautilus is part of the Joint Assistance and Support Network (JASON) with the other unions of the Nautilus Federation. Under this scheme, you can obtain assistance from one of those unions if you are in trouble in a country in which one of them is situated, or in the relevant territorial waters, or on one of their national ships. Information on how JASON can assist you and how to access this service, along with a list of the relevant unions, is available on the Nautilus Federation website.

Remember, if you are involved in an incident anywhere in the world, you should always contact the Union as soon as possible, and certainly before making a statement to any investigating authorities.

Nautilus is urging members to support its Fair Treatment strategic campaign by taking part in an updated survey which aims to find out what, if anything, has changed since our 2010 survey, and investigate better ways of ensuring that members can stay informed about their rights, wherever they are in the world.

Please also take a few minutes to complete our Fair Treatment survey on how criminalisation is affecting seafarers and what we can do to provide more help

Because of the international nature of seafarer criminalisation, the Union is joining with the 21 unions which make up the Nautilus Federation to action against the unfair treatment of maritime professionals. The results of the updated survey will be publicised in the Nautilus Federation Fair Treatment report 2018.

A special panel of industry experts will be on hand at the symposium to discuss the continued threat of criminalisation of the maritime profession. The speakers include Seafarers’ Rights International head Deirdre Fitzpatrick, International Transport Workers’ Federation maritime coordinator Jacqueline Smith and Helen Kelly of Lloyd’s List – who will lead discussions on one of the most important issues facing maritime professionals today.

Nautilus also lobbies the governments of the UK, Netherlands and Switzerland, as well as the EU, to seek to ensure that legislation affecting seafarers does not increase the risk of criminalisation. All members should contact their elected representatives to add their voice to the campaign.

Members can also ask their employers to ensure that their employees have all the information they need, relevant to the areas which they will be sailing in – something which Nautilus will support you in doing.